Oblivious
by Troplet
Summary: Embry is too late to rescue her brother, Scott from the werewolf curse. That gruesome bite left them more alike than ever. They share the same interest in lacrosse, friends, their tendency to run off into the woods during the night and now, a new girl who doesn't exactly keep the best company in her house. Everyone is oblivious.
1. 1 Bitten

I watched from my brother's doorway as his two hands threaded the laces on the head of a lacrosse stick. He worked fast and precisely, fingers pulling each lace into a diamond mesh pattern. Knotting the last loop, Scott stood with the re-threaded stick.

"Oh yeah, because a properly threaded stick is going to help your game play not _suck_ ," I said, cackling at the idea of my brother running.

"It might."

" _Right_. That's so going to help. You're going to kick ass out there."

Dressed in only a pair of athletic shorts, his lithe frame still had some filling out to do, compared to the others on the team. He was a late bloomer.

I had to admit, it was easy to see that he'd soon grow into himself. He just looked like an awkward and lanky teenager at the moment.

"Watch," he said, scooping a ball up from his bedroom floor, he gave the lacrosse stick a spin, testing his handiwork, only to stumble on a pair of socks.

"I'm watching and I'm not exactly impressed."

He scratched the back of his neck, a faint blush crept up his neck. "There's no obstacles like that on the field," he rushed to explain. "Nothing will trip me."

"Except moving figures, lunging at you from every direction," I remarked sarcastically with a scoff. "Seriously, if you can't hop over a pair of socks, you won't make the team this year either. End of story."

His dark eyes looked up, hopeful. After a lengthy pause, he said, "Teach me."

"Sorry?" I said, biting my lip.

"Teach me," he repeated.

"What was that I heard? Brother of mine asking for help in relation to physical activities? My, my, how the tables have turned."

He shrugged. "I want to learn, okay?"

"That's when you choose to speak to me?" I asked, fighting the urge to throw a fit. "To use me?"

"Embry." He groaned and turned away from me. "Never mind. You have to make everything so hard."

"No, no," I said, feeling bad. I sat on the bed beside him, taking the stick from his hand. I looked at his handiwork before I gave it back. "Look, let me say this without you interrupting for once, okay?"

He nodded his head, agreeing. "Okay."

"You're not cut out for lacrosse," I said, then added, "or sports in general, to be honest."

"What the hell?"

He opened his mouth to continue but I quickly cut him off. " _That's okay_. Tell me, when you're out playing with Stiles, once in a blue moon, do you have a passion for it? Do you feel the thrill? Do you see yourself ever not playing it?"

"Yeah—"

" _Think_. During the summer who was the one meeting up with people to improve? To play the game? That's right. Not you. _Me_."

I cringed when he threw his stick beside his school bag. So, careless. So, dispassionate. He only proved my point.

He stepped on the stool by the doorway. He smirked at me, teasing me by showing off his strength by doing chin ups.

 _If only he knew._

That was his answer. _His little brute strength_. "I haven't done _nothing_ though. I've been working out when you go play those amateur games. Tell me, do you have," he said, looking down to his stomach, clenching and unclenching it his abs, "these bad boys?"

" _Tell me_ ," I mocked. "Does push ups, chin ups and sitting around on the computer for the rest of the day improve your stamina? Your clumsiness?" It was my turn to smirk. "Good luck with that. You're hoping to join the team for the wrong reasons. You and I both know that."

Scott ignored me and continued to pump up and down. He dropped down and cocked his head to the side. "Did you hear that?"

I shook my head, deciding not to say I did in fact hear the shuffling and grunting outside our house. I knew perfectly well what is was and I figured he could find out for himself.

I watched on, amused, as Scott rolled his eyes at me and left the room to check it out.

I heard his footsteps as they trailed down the hallway. He opened mom's bedroom and closed it again a second later. He continued his journey until he reached the porch downstairs. He slid the patio door open and walked out into the garden.

"You're going to get the fright of your life," I muttered, peering out from Scott's window. "A deserved one at that."

Scott's heartbeat raced yet he held his breath as he moved cautiously forward. I pursed my lips at the side wall with vines.

They rattled back and forth before the figure broke free and hurdled toward the oblivious Scott until it swung mere inches from his face.

"Man!" Scott lurched backwards, away from the dangling figure. He breathed out another, "Oh. Man! Stiles! What the hell are you doing?"

Stiles, still upside down, frowned. "You weren't answering your phone." He glanced up at his feet caught in the vines and sighed. "Yes, I know it's late, but you gotta hear this."

"What?" Scott grumbled.

"I saw my dad leave twenty minutes ago," Stiles informed him. "Dispatch called. They're bringing in every officer from the Beacon department and even state police."

This caught Scott's attention, he seemed to forget his friend hung upside down. "For what?"

"Well," Stiles dragged out. "Two joggers found a body in the woods."

My eyes widened at the news. I whipped out my phone and zoned out of their conversation for a few seconds.

There were no new messages on my home screen. Frustrated, I shoved the phone back into my pocket and listened again to hear more details.

"So, hold on, if they found the body what are they looking for now?"

"That's the best part." Stiles grinned, like he expected the question and could not wait to answer. He finally managed to untangle his feet from the vines. Somehow, he managed to land on the ground without hurting himself. "They only found half."

* * *

From a distance, I could hear dogs barking. A low growl rumbled within my chest. I shoved my hands into my pockets and took a step forward, only to reel back after I saw flashing red and blue lights.

The trees opposite me, had flash lights pointed in its direction.

Stiles managed to untangle himself from the vines and hopped into his truck with Stiles, before I made it down the stairs. Somehow, them clumsy idiots were faster than me!

"Idiots," I muttered. "Absolute idiots. What were they thinking?"

"Stay right there!" a man called out.

Instantly I held my breath and froze. I rolled my eyes at myself. It wasn't _me_ that they saw. That was impossible.

It was probably dumb or dumber. As suspected, a figure ran toward the search party with their hands up in the air, covering his eyes as a flashlight beamed at his face.

"Hold on," Deputy Stilinski said, walking forward.

"Sir?" someone asked, patiently.

"Hold on, this little delinquent belongs to me." He walked by the dogs, held back by leashes, until Stiles could see his face as clear as day.

He shrunk back at the glare he was on the receiving end of.

Stiles grimaced. "Hi dad."

"Do you listen in on all my phone calls?"

"No..." Stiles denied, smiling sheepishly. "Not the boring ones."

Deputy Stilinski pinched the bridge of his nose. "Right. Where's your usual partner in crime?"

"Who?" Stiles' eyes widened innocently. " _Oh_ , you mean Scott. Scott's at home. He said he wanted a good night's sleep for the first day back at school."

Deputy Stilinski shook his head. "Scott!" he called out. "Scott, you out there?" He turned to Stiles and eyed him suspiciously.

"He's not there, dad," Stiles placated.

"All right, young man, I'm taking you back to your car and we're going to discuss a little something called _Invasion of Privacy_."

Stiles rolled his eyes. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You invade people's privacy every day," Stiles accused, grinning.

His dad blinked. "That's my job, son. Just—get in the damn car."

As Stiles got escorted away, I made my way around to the sound of footsteps that crunched against twigs. The area was dark, even for me.

I blinked and suddenly the trees and the surrounding area became that much brighter and easier to see.

I had no idea how Scott and Stiles made their way around.

I paused for a second. Off in the distance, there were more than one pair of footsteps. It was a stampede of footsteps.

I ran forward, as the rumbling vibrations became louder and more ferocious.

"Scott?" I yelled, hoping he wasn't in the firing line. "Scott? Answer me! Where are you?"

Hearing a shout, I quickened my pace, still not wanting to do something that would change my family life forever. I couldn't reveal myself.

The choice was taken away from me. I heard of a splash of water then a low growl. All it took was a split second of seeing the colour red, before my clothes ripped to shreds and a large black panther took my place.

I was seconds too late. Scott twisted his body to the side and sharp teeth tugged roughly at his skin, making him cry out.

I managed to disentangle the large wolf from his body, with a snarl. I blocked Scott with my own body before he scrambled backwards and ran off without a look in our direction.

My teeth clamped down on the paw of the attacker. A flash of razor sharp teeth sunk into my neck. With a hiss, I backtracked, allowing for the wolf to run into the trees.

I ignored the throb of my neck and ran off in the opposite direction. The fight was over, for now.

I sprinted and then jumped over a barbed wire fence, finding myself able to watch as my brother nearly killed himself again by nearly getting clipped by a car. The keyword, _nearly._

I watched from the shadows as he lifted his shirt to reveal an oozing bite mark, stretched lengthily across his skin. He promptly passed out at the sight.

A howl echoed across the forest.

My own whimper at the turn events followed.

It was safe to say, I did not sleep a wink that fateful night.

I brought back Scott to his room then stood outside of Scott's window and stayed there until the sun came up.

In the morning, I watched Scott like a hawk. Beside from his eyes flickering from one spot to another, he did not seem too affected from the events of the previous night.

He did not voice if he felt weird or not. He ate his breakfast and stayed mostly quiet. Of course, he would not say anything. He'd sound crazy.

At school, I did not venture too far from him either. Stiles and Scott walked toward our Chemistry class together. I stalked after them.

"—I'm pretty sure it was a wolf," Scott confided to Stiles in a whisper, sounding afraid of admitting it out loud.

"A wolf bit you?" Stiles asked, his lip twitched in response. "Not a chance, dude."

Scott countered, "I heard a wolf howling."

"No, you didn't," Stiles reassured and went into the classroom, leaving a gaping mouthed Scott behind.

He huffed before he followed his friend. "You weren't there, dude. I did. It howled."

Stiles waved at me as I took a seat beside him. I nodded my acknowledgement but did not say anything.

I _wanted_ to hear their conversation for once. Maybe if Stiles did not believe Scott, he'd come to me for help. Maybe. I hoped.

I crossed my fingers and rested my elbows on the desk.

Scott roughly sat into the chair behind Stiles, giving me a death glare.

"What do you mean, 'No I didn't'?" he asked, glancing toward me again. He lowered his voice. "How do you know what I heard?"

Stiles didn't have the same hesitancy as Scott did. He said casually, "California doesn't have wolves, Scott." He turned in his seat. "Not for the last sixty years."

"Really?"

" _Really really_." Stiles smiled goofily. "There's no wolves in California."

"Then what—" Scott's eyebrows furrowed.

Stiles looked at him. "Minds go wild in foreign places. Especially if you consider the place a threat. There was a body, Scott."

Scott leaned back in his chair and looked lost.

I looked away before he looked at me again.

The classroom began to fill up with students, mostly students who did not look half-awake yet.

I sat up in the chair when Danny, a friend of mine came in.

Danny smiled at me and took a seat to my left. "Hey, Em," he greeted. "How was your summer? Do anything fun?"

Ah, that question. The question that was always asked. The question that always led to the same old small talk over our activities and probable lies to make ourselves look better than we actually were.

 _To impress._

My lips curled up into a smile. "Good, good," I answered. "Just dressed up as a clown and was accused of stealing some bikes. Good thing Father Michael wrote me up some character references. The CCTV footage didn't stand a chance against his word, of course."

"Of course." Danny grinned at me, knowing I was joking. "The usual stuff then."

"F-father Michael?" Scott stared at me, his jaw hung open. "How did I not know about this?"

"Doesn't he hate you?" Stiles popped up, leaning his cheek against his palm, squishing up his face. "Like, _really_ hate you. As in 'the power of Christ compels you', hates you?"

"More like repels you," Scott scoffed out.

"Dude." Danny shook his head. "Not funny."

"Seriously, don't listen to her," Scott warned. "She's just lying. Anything to get attention, right Em?"

Arching an eyebrow at Scott's tone, more than what he said, I replied, "The one and the same. It's amazing what saying fifty Hail Mary's will get you. Apparently, it prayed away the gay."

Scott spluttered out a cough and turned away, embarrassed by how loud I had been.

Stiles on the other hand could not contain his laughter, even the smack he got to the back of his head did not stop it. It kept on coming out. With a final snort, he fully turned to Scott, getting lost in conversation with him.

"He still hasn't gotten over it yet?" Danny asked, furrowing his eyebrow.

I sighed. "No, not yet."

He glared in Scott's direction and clenched his fists by his sides. I silently shook my head. "What a jerk. No improvement in three months? That's just..."

"Just forget about it."

He shook his head. "How was your summer, really?"

"Fine." I rolled my shoulders, shrugging off the subject. Danny continued to stare at me expectantly. "He's speaking to me now," I offered with a tired smile. "It's progress. I think Stiles smacked some sense into him."

"I think he needs more than a smack, Embry."

I hummed my agreement but made no move to comment further.

In all my days on earth, I learned a lesson. I could only control my own thoughts and actions. I had to respect that others had a different viewpoint and their reactions were their responsibility and not mine.

I had to let it go, even if I did disagree or if it did make me sad.

Scott and I did not speak for two months when I revealed my sexuality to him. Our mom encouraged me to get it out of the way, to deal with it during the summer months and concentrate on our relationship then, rather than doing it during school months.

Mom did not foresee that on the last night of the summer holidays, we'd have to face more than petty disagreements and resentment.

It was a life changing alteration.

Scott leaned across his table. "Well if you don't believe me about the wolf, then you're definitely not going to believe me when I tell you I saw a body."

"You what?" Stiles' hands flailed as he struggled to keep his balance on his chair. "Are you kidding me? You're kidding, right? My plan got hijacked and you managed to get the glory? Not fair."

"I wish," Scott mumbled, shivering. "I'm going to have nightmares about it for a month."

Danny continued to rave on about karma.

I smirked at Danny. "No worries, Danny boy. I think that has been covered enough."

Even if I would have nightmares about it for the rest of my life.


	2. 2 Oblivious

"That's freaking awesome. This is seriously the best thing that's happened to this town since..." Stiles trailed off and looked toward the door, "...since the birth of Lydia Martin who's walking toward us right now."

The red headed junior made her way through the tables with her chin in the air.

I rolled my eyes. "Whipped."

"Hey Lydia, how are you? You look—" Lydia did not even spare him a glance. "—like you're going to ignore me."

Stiles was confusing at the best of times. Though this, this was overboard. A dead person, a person I didn't have the time to see the night before, was considered something of entertainment to him.

I bit back a growl and turned away from him.

At least Scott did not find it amusing. Then again, he did go off into the woods, despite the lurking danger of a murderer, never mind a werewolf.

He didn't take the whole thing seriously enough. I couldn't imagine how he would take to finding out the effect the bite had on him.

Lydia dropped her bag on the other side of Danny. After a couple of seconds of admiring her nails, she flashed both Danny and I, a genuine smile for a good two seconds.

She barely glanced over my shoulder before she adopted a scowl.

"Creep much?" Lydia muttered, glaring at Scott. Stiles, well, he was practically invisible in the eyes of Lydia.

I laughed. "Stop it."

"I don't know how you spent an entire summer with them two," she said, scrunching up her nose. "Especially your _brother_."

I tilted my head in agreement. "Stiles isn't like..." I trailed off, not wanting to say my brother's name. I knew he could hear me, even if he did not quite figure it out yet. "He's cool with _everything_."

"Sure," Lydia said, uncommitted.

"Stiles has always been laid back like that," I continued. "I think you'd like him. He's harmless."

"If you say so." Lydia did not look convinced. "I expected you to crash at my place more than you did. Colour me impressed by your tolerance."

"Right!" Danny said, agreeing with her.

"He's my brother," I said, firmly.

"It's really abnormal, even for you. I don't know how you do it," Danny said. "I know your mom is awesome and everything. Still, the silent treatment for months on end? That's emotional manipulation. It's like he's hoping you'll say 'Hey, just kidding. Men are glorious'."

"We're talking now though," I said, not really wanting to talk about this first thing in the morning.

Danny leaned forward to catch my eye. "You shouldn't have to work to get his attention."

"I get what you're saying," I admitted, frowning. "I gave him time to process. He has had enough time to wrap his head around it. There's nothing more that I can do. No. There's nothing more that _I will_ do."

"The ball's in his court," Lydia said, contemplating for a few moments. "I don't know whether I want the ball to rebound into his face repeatedly, or for him to actually take a swing."

I sighed. "Both. Preferably both."

Lydia flipped her hair over her shoulder with a pleased smile. Danny frowned but said nothing and sat back in his chair.

The classroom at this point was full. Mr. Harris stood up and leaned his hands on the front desk, eyeing the students with a bored expression.

"As you know by now, there was indeed a body found in the woods last night," he said, rolling his eyes. "I'm sure your eager little minds are coming up with all sorts of macabre scenarios as to how it happened but I've been told that the police have a suspect in custody."

I glanced to Stiles, he seemed as clueless as I was. He shrugged his shoulders like it was not a big deal, when Scott also gave him a questioning look.

The rest of the students did not even pay attention. Not really.

I checked my phone again. _Nothing._

"A vagrant with a long history of psychiatric disorders was discovered camping out in the woods near where the body was found." He eyed Scott and a few others in the class. "Which means your undivided attention can be given to the syllabus outlining the semester on your desks. Read it now. And by read I don't mean skim."

Just like that, the students obeyed his command. They flipped pages, took out their pencil cases, ruffled through their school bags and dared not to speak.

My thoughts were lost with the words I read, until Scott snapped his head toward the window. His eyes were glazed over.

I was sure if I poked him, he would not respond too kindly to the interruption.

I followed his line of vision, outside across the quad, I saw a girl, oblivious to our stares.

The girl radiated with an innocent beauty. When she put her mobile phone to her ear, it became obvious that, despite the closed windows and the distance, this was caught Scott's initial attention, the _ringing_.

I winced when I heard the girl speak, no doubt Scott could hear too. I really did not want him to freak out, not during class.

"Mom," the girl said, smiling a little too hard, showing off her dimples, "three calls on my first day is a little overdoing it."

The mom huffed on the other side of the line. "Just making sure you're there okay and you've got everything you need."

I closed my eyes and turned to Scott, not wanting to open them. I did anyway. He still stared, he watched the scene play out intently.

I wasn't sure if he was enchanted by the girl's beauty or freaking out over the fact he could hear the conversation, both ends of the conversation.

When I turned back to the girl, the girl rummaged through her school bag and she looked alarmed. "Everything except a pen." She looked up to the sky and closed her eyes. "Oh my God, I didn't actually forget a pen."

"Don't panic," the mom said and laughed. "I'm sure you can borrow one from another student."

Predicting a not so interesting conversation when the principal turned up, I focused on Scott. Even if the new student was out of sight, he still concentrated on her.

I didn't want to scare Scott, but his trance like state made him look demented.

I wanted to reach out to him, let him know he was not alone. But, our relationship was too fragile. Learning about me, he might resent me that much more.

I plucked a pen and flung it at him with such speed that by the time he looked in my direction, I looked like I wrote notes by the syllabus with my head turned away from him entirely.

"I saw that," Danny chuckled.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I denied, grinning.

"Mh-hmm."

"I'm just taking down some notes, like a good student."

"Not so patient after all, huh? Get little pleasure from petty crap." He wrote down something, not looking up when he said, "I like it."

"Ditto," Lydia muttered.

The classroom door opened, making the class look up from their books.

"Class, this is our new student, Allison Argent," the principal introduced with a polite smile. "Please do your best to make her feel welcome."

My jaw locked when Allison passed by both my seat and Scott's, to take a seat behind him.

In the meantime, Scott's heart beat raced and his breathing had stopped altogether. Once her notepad was on the desk, Scott turned toward her and he gave her _my_ blasted pen with his usual smile.

She took the pen from him with an odd look. "Thanks."

"My bloody pen," I muttered. "My favourite pen."

"What?" Danny looked to me.

"Oh." My lip twitched. "Nothing. I think today's just going to be a long day, that's all."

* * *

My plate of food was left untouched.

For over five minutes straight, I sent several texts and got no response in return. All my messages were read. I did not blame him for not responding. He was more of a call and get direct answers kinda guy. Except I was not that kinda girl.

Our line of communication was not exactly the best.

"She's acting really strange," Jackson commented, stabbing a chip with his fork.

When I looked up, I asked, "What?"

He explained, "You're a _player_. You're texting someone and then staring at someone else a second later. Unless this person is the same person, which would be like I said, strange."

" _Oooh_ ," Lydia crooned, glancing over her shoulder. "Who are we looking at?"

"No one," I replied and resumed my texting.

Danny looked down to my phone, I trusted him enough not to look at my messages and only at the person's name.

Otherwise I would have to explain the texts themselves. And that would be _awkward._

 **Me: Scott got bitten. So, did I, but that's beside the point.**

 **Me: Did your sister actually decide to bite my brother? I know you seriously don't like him, but that's a touch too far.**

 **Me: I'll let you explain the dead girl part. Not even going to touch that.**

 **Me: I'm not dealing with Scott's shit alone.**

"She's texting Derek," Danny told them.

I sighed. "Invasion of privacy much?"

He squeezed his shoulder against mine and looked across the canteen. "Oh, and she's staring at the new girl. Arden? I think you made her flustered because she dropped a shit tonne of coins."

So, that obviously made everyone look toward Allison who dropped to her knees and apologised to the cashier.

She offered her an embarrassed smile as she cleared it up. The cashier smiled gratefully because no doubt if it were other students, they would have left the mess behind for her to clean up.

Allison cleared her throat and looked up, locking eyes with me. I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the mess.

Allison began to smile but the cashier placed her hand on her shoulder, gaining her attention.

"Oooh la la." Lydia playfully licked her lips.

I grimaced. "Don't start."

"This is the first time I've seen you actually stare at someone," she said, grinning. "Thinking about it, I like her style. You know, I think I'm going to have a little chat with her."

I shrank in my seat as Lydia gracefully crossed the canteen and struck up a conversation with Allison.

Danny grinned. "Best wind woman ever."

"That girl, I swear," I mumbled, catching Scott's eye. His hands were clenched over his ears. "Scott's the one smitten with her. Not me."

I frowned as I continued to watch Scott wince. I mouthed to him, 'You okay'? He turned away, not acknowledging me.

At his blatant dismissal, I could not lie, it hurt. I bit my lip and looked back to the table.

I placed my phone on the table, where I could see it when Derek decided to reply to my long-winded messages. I willed it to ding.

"That jacket is absolutely killer." Lydia trailed a finger down Allison's arm. "Where did you get it?"

"My Mom was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco."

Lydia's grin widened. "You're sitting with me and my friends."

Taking Allison by the arm, she guided her to our table. Jackson, Lydia's boyfriend, pulled her toward his lap, but she brushed him off, still talking to Allison.

A few tables away, Scott sat with Stiles and their friend Rebecca Harlowe, better known as Harley.

"So, that's Jackson and Danny," Lydia introduced them quickly. "Now this is Embry, my bestie. The _better_ McCall. You should do well to remember that."

I chewed on the inside of my cheek. "Shut up."

"Hi," Allison offered the group and looked to me, furrowing her eyebrow. "The better McCall?"

Jackson grounded his teeth together. He surprised us all by answering. "Yes. The other one, her brother, is an insecure little bitch that needs to get his head out of his ass."

Alison said, "Oh."

His nostrils flared before he smirked in Scott's direction. "Stay clear from that mop head."

I ignored the looks directed at me from my own table and glanced wearily toward Scott.

He clenched his hands on the desk and ignored the worried looks Stiles kept shooting him. Even Harley looked concerned and stopped prattling on about the popular social standing and how it came to be.

I turned to Allison. "You should form your own opinion on Scott," I said, glaring at Jackson. He only smiled in response. He planted his seed of doubt. Job accomplished. "Don't listen to Jackson. He's biased."

"If he treats his own sister like shit, what makes you think he'll treat other girls better?"

I looked to Lydia for help but she did not look my way, pointedly not getting involved in the conversation.

"Form your own opinion," I stressed again with a huff. I didn't want Scott to be more isolated than he already was. I didn't need to make his life more difficult than it already would be. "Moving on from that. I heard there's a party this week, when and where?"

"My place," Lydia answered. "Swing by my place early, yeah?" I nodded. Lydia looked to Allison. "You should come, you'll meet a lot of people that way."

"I'll give you a ride?" Danny offered, shooting Allison his most charming smile.

Allison smiled awkwardly. "I can't," she managed to get out. I suppressed a smirk at the little skip of a heartbeat. "It's family night this Friday. But thanks for asking."

"You sure?" Danny asked, frowning at the sudden rejection. "Everyone's going after the scrimmage game. Oh, which reminds me, Em, you need a ride?"

"Of course, she will," Jackson scoffed. "McCall's not going to get on the team. So, he's not invited to the party. Even if he did magically get onto the team. He still wouldn't be invited. One McCall is enough."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, to the ride, thanks Danny."

"You bringing Derek?" Danny asked, his eyes lit up.

"You're obsessed," I accused.

"I want to meet this mystery guy. All I've seen is the pictures you've shown me. For all we know he doesn't exist," he said. "How dramatic would that be? Catfishing yourself..."

"He's real. I've met him. He's the silent and broody type, right up your ally, Danny." Lydia groaned loudly. "I still find it creepy that you're hanging around with someone what? Five, six years older than you, Em?"

I ignored her. "No, he's not coming. It's like you want me to stab my eyes out this lunch time. What's with all the questions?"

"How long have you known the guy?" Allison asked, to my disbelief, the girl looked concerned for me. "I know I don't know you, but I'd like to get the chance to. You can't go missing while I do it, think of the time I would be wasting."

Lydia waved off her concerns. "They're childhood friends, he's not _that_ much of a creeper."

"He's not creepy at all," I said, rolling my eyes. "Silent and broody, yeah I can say you're spot on. Creepy? You never gave him a chance. Just like Stiles."

"You have poor taste in boys," Lydia said. Then she blinked. "Wow. I totally forgot there for a second, but you really don't have to have good taste, I suppose. Not for _that_ purpose anyway."

Noticing my discomfort, Danny piped up, "You going to practice today, Em?"

"You mean like football?" Allison looked to me. "They have a unisex team?"

Jackson snorted. "Football is a joke at Beacon. The sport here is Lacrosse. We won the state championship the last three years-"

"Because of a certain team captain." Lydia winked at me.

"Co-Captain," Jackson corrected, thinking Lydia was talking about him. Lydia grinned at that, shooting me a smirk. "Every season starts with a scrimmage to decide the new first string. You ever watch Lacrosse?"

"I'm actually not sure how it's played other than well," Alison trailed off, "violently."

"Maybe you should just come see for yourself," Lydia suggested, slyly winking in my direction. "They have practice today. You don't have to be anywhere right after school, do you?"


	3. 3 Jealous

I pulled on a jersey twice my size, scowling at everyone else that managed to get a jersey that somewhat fit them.

Once on, I nearly tripped over myself. A redhead stood beside me with the most mischievous twinkle in her eye that it made me scared.

Lydia fixed the helmet onto my head without a word. The girl grinned down at me without reservation. Even in the changing room full with other girls, she truly smiled.

She flicked the helmet playfully and glanced around. She leaned down into my personal space.

"Guys think they impress girls with their sport's ability, their muscles. Well, that _does_ help," Lydia whispered into my ear.

"Your point?" I asked, dryly.

"What they don't know is, what really makes them stand out is their passion," she said, "a passion not revolved around impressing _me_."

I took a couple of steps back, hearing the whistle in the distance outside of the changing rooms. "Why are you telling me this?"

"It's different with girls," Lydia said, leaning against the locker. "You, for example are timid, _cute_. You're not trying to stand out. You enjoy the game. It's why so many people watch you play. It's why Scott practically seethes with jealousy, that you get attention without even trying."

"Whose attention?" I scoffed. "Scott's not jealous of _me_. That's ridiculous."

"Of course, he is. You sat with the girl he likes, she's coming to watch you practice," Lydia explained with an eye roll. "What is he then?" Lydia cocked her head to the side. "If not that, what else?"

"I don't know. I'm not a mind reader." I shook my head. "What I do know is that he's not jealous. There's nothing to be jealous of."

Lydia strolled toward the exit, stopping right before she left. "Trust me. If he's not jealous now, he will be," she vaguely remarked, then left the room.

The rest of the team and I, both girls and boys left their respective changing rooms and made our way out into the field.

The lacrosse team's coach assistant blew on their whistle to gather the team together. I lagged behind both Stiles and Scott, trying not to look like the stalker that I was.

"Just think about it," Stiles implored with a semi-serious facial expression.

"You're starting to annoy me," Scott muttered.

"If you play, I'll have no one to talk to on the bench. I would pester Em, but she's guaranteed a place on the team." He glanced over his shoulder to look at me. "You really going to do that to your best friend?"

"I can't sit out again." Scott's grip tightened on his stick. "My whole life is sitting on the side-lines. This season, I make first string."

Stiles' eyebrows rose. "Ambitious. I like it."

I knew I could not let that happen. I could not let him have the chance to stand out or realise he could do so much _more_ now.

If he did have that opportunity, someone could get seriously injured, especially with how Scott was quick to action based off his emotions, not rational thought. He was impulsive.

Lost in thought, I paused to notice Lydia climbing the bleachers. And stepping right behind her was Allison. Lydia noticed me when she sat down and waved. Allison waved too, smiling at me.

I shyly waved back.

Lydia hauled Allison back down the bleachers, down in my direction. I heeded Lydia's come hither motion with a crooked finger.

"Awe," Lydia cooed placing both hands on my helmet, pretending to have not seen me earlier, obviously. "I've always thought you looked cute in these uniforms, Em. She looks cute, right Allison?"

Affronted by Lydia's remarks I scowled. "Cute? I'm not cute. I'm er, voracious. People fear me. Hear me roar."

I was half tempted to go full blown cat but well, I didn't want to give them a heart attack.

"Tell her, Allison." Lydia grinned at the very faint blush on Allison's cheeks. Thank God I wore the helmet so she didn't notice mine too. "Tell her she's cute."

"Definitely cute." Allison didn't hesitate.

I eyed Lydia. "You're so embarrassing."

Allison looked at me for a few moments. "The large jersey doesn't help your case, Embry. It totally engulfs you."

"Now that your cuteness has been verified, we may take our leave." Lydia took Allison by the hand and began dragging her up the bleachers again. "Catch you later, Em."

"Yeah, see you."

Scott gulped which made me look away from them and toward him. Even behind the helmet, he looked a mixture between star struck and full of rage.

I briefly wondered what I looked like.

"McCall!" Coach yelled, getting an excited grin out of Scott. Stiles whacked him on the back. "You're in the goal."

Scott's face dropped. He trotted over to the coach, a man with little comprehension of the difficulties of teenage life.

Obviously, this was Scott's time to shine, to impress the girl waiting in the stands.

"But I've never played goal," Scott protested.

"I know." Coach grinned, pointing towards the goal. "Scoring some shots will give the team a confidence boost. It's a first day back thing. Get them energized, jazzed up."

"What about me?" Scott asked, looking toward the bleachers again. "Do I switch out with anyone later?"

Coach cackled. "No. No switching out. That would disrupt the little time we have together. Try not to take any in the face."

Stepping into the net, Scott glanced to the bleachers where Allison watched with Lydia, eyes focusing on them.

"—Him?" Lydia's lips curled into a sneer. "That's _Scott_. Embry's brother." She eyed her seating partner suspiciously. "Why?"

Allison's eyes widened. "He's in my Chem class," she answered.

Her eyes drifted to me, how I knew that? I could feel the stare burning into the back of my neck.

"Why?" Lydia repeated, impatiently.

"He seemed nice. Why do you people hate him so much?" she asked. "Embry didn't seem to like you guys dissing her brother like that."

Scott looked up, shocked to hear Allison asking about him. I too held my breath, not sure where Lydia would lead the conversation next.

Scott's flinch at the whistle blow caught my attention, I could imagine the sound ringing through his skull.

"I don't think Em would like me to spill her business," Lydia admitted with a blank look on her face. "What I can tell you is, she treats him better than he deserves. Much better. The same can't be said for him."

Forget about Scott's petty crush, I told myself. I must protect him. Or others from him.

"All right," Coach caught everyone's attention. "Let's go!"

One of the bigger players charged forward as the assistant coach passed the ball to him. Catching it, he whipped his stick forward, hurling the ball toward the goal.

Still reeling from the whistle, Scott looked up too late to see the ball soaring toward him. It bounced right off his helmet and into the net.

The team laughed wickedly. Even the Coach snickered. I bit on my lip.

"Damn." Stiles groaned beside me. "Come on Scott. You can do better than that."

I raised an eyebrow. "Can he? I told him, muscle doesn't equate to skill in the game."

"You tried to help?" Stiles said, looking surprised. "Well, it's his fault he didn't listen. He can be too prideful, stubborn even. Sometimes that holds him back from doing or saying the things he really wants to do." He paused for a second, giving me a meaningful look. "Or say."

"He's accountable for his words, Stiles."

I could feel the embarrassment Scott felt. The blood that raised to the surface on his cheeks, burned under his mask.

Scott steeled himself for the next player. When the whistle blew again, he looked ready. The assistant coach passed the ball to the player who caught it and fired it right at the goal.

Scott moved startlingly fast, almost an instantaneous reaction. Then he noticed the player staring at him with a mixture of disappointment and surprise.

Scott had the ball and I wanted to kill myself.

He caught it. When the next player took the shot, Scott caught the ball again. And then again. And again. Nothing could get past him.

In the bleachers, Allison and Lydia sat forward.

"He seems like he's pretty good," Allison said.

Lydia nodded. "Very good," she agreed. "Not as good as Em. Trust me."

Lydia kept her gaze locked on me who now stood with my gloved hands fidgeting nervously. Lydia's confidence in me made me smile a little.

Whereas Scott stood with more of a confident posture. That was until Jackson pushed to the head of the line. Glaring at Scott, he practically strangles the lacrosse stick with his gloves.

"Oh God..." Scott whimpered. "I'm dead."

I quickly thought of a plan of action. I knew if Scott concentrated enough, he would be able to catch it. I needed to knock his confidence. Jackson would not be able to do what I wanted.

"Wait..." I said, placing a hand on Jackson's shoulder. "Let me."

Jackson eyed me. "Fine," he said through gritted teeth. "Knock his ass down."

The assistant coach tossed the ball up. I launched forward, catching the ball and spinning around to fire it at the goal. I moved with supernatural precision, knowing where Scott expected me to shoot.

The ball shot right through the pocket of the goalie stick, leaving a hole behind.

Stiles let out a holler, jumping up on the bench. In the bleachers, Lydia stood and gave a 'whoop' and a 'go Em', as well causing Jackson to throw a look at her.

She returned his glare with a sly smile, a warning to step up his game.

Grinning, I gave the lacrosse stick a whirl, spinning it with a flick of my wrist. "I may have said a threaded stick wouldn't improve your game, but really, Scott? That's just laziness."

A flash of blue caught my attention. The practice ended and most of the players went off the field and back into the changing rooms. I did not care that several eyes followed me as I walked toward him on the outskirts of the field, beside the forest.

"Embry," Derek said when I stood close enough. "We need to talk."

"I know," I agreed, squeezing his shoulder with my hand. "Let's head back to yours."

Off in the distance I heard a, "Who's that?"

I could hear the smirk in Lydia's voice. "That, that is Derek Hale."

* * *

We walked quietly amongst the trees. It was irritating how Derek's face always seemed so calm and collected, but I knew better. Those steel blue eyes were haunted, they even glistened with unshod tears. I allowed my own to free-fall.

We were in the middle of nowhere, after all. Who was there to bear witness to my erratic emotions other than my closest friend, a friend that knew all of my secrets, even before I did myself.

"Laura is dead." I tried to absorb the information. "This doesn't make any sense."

Derek glanced at me. "I know," he growled. He straightened his back. "Which means we do not know who bit your brother. We do not know who killed my sister. We don't know _anything_."

I thought back to the alpha's form, its dark coat and the size of the animal.

At the time, I did not pay attention to details, my only focus was to get Scott the hell away from the danger. I did not consider if it were Laura. I didn't consider that until the next day and boy, was I wrong.

All I knew was that it was an alpha, as I still had to wear a scarf to cover my slowly healing wound.

"We don't know," I said, hearing footsteps in little bit away. "We do know what we can do to find out. Their human form is out of the question. Different scent. We need to take them down in their wolf form." My eyes gleamed. "That's our chance."

I knelt to the ground and plucked an inhaler off it. I rolled my eyes at the thing and held it in my hands.

Scott had changed drastically enough since he turned fifteen, now sixteen. If he changed any more, he would be practically a stranger.

"What about your brother?"

I snapped, "He's not getting involved." I regretted my tone but not my words, so I stayed quiet.

"We're stronger in larger numbers," Derek countered.

"I know that…"

"The two of us alone can't take the alpha. Regardless, you need to tell him, explain to him who he is now," he said. "What he's capable of before it's too late. He needs to be trained. We can't let him wander without supervision."

"I _know_ , but I can't be the one to train him," I said, looking to him with a silent question. "There's enough strained tension between us as it is."

"Natural born enemies, in one household." Derek pushed me gently to the side, behind a tree. "Of course you can't train him. I will."

As clear as day, I heard a poor imitation of a wolf's howl and mocking laughter after. Scott and Stiles had not learned their lesson and pranced about again in the forest.

"I can't believe them," I muttered. "Idiots."

Derek's lip twitched before he looked serious. He stalked out from behind the trees.

"What are you doing here?" His voice startled both Stiles and Scott who were too stunned to answer. "This is private property."

Stiles tapped Scott on the shoulder, urging him to answer the man. When Scott could only open and close his mouth, Stiles rolled his eyes and tried to square his shoulders to look as confident as possible.

"Sorry, we didn't know."

When Derek continued to only stare at Scott, he was forced to speak. "We were just looking for something. Forget it. Sorry to bother you."

As they turned to go, I held up the inhaler for Derek to take. He moved fast so it looked like he didn't move at all and tossed it in Scott's direction.

It was not surprising the boy managed to catch it. When he looked up, Derek was gone. He disappeared.

In reality, he leaned against the same tree as me.

"Dude, that was Derek Hale," Stiles said, sounding amazed. "You remember, right? You thought he was Embry's boyfriend." He snorted. "He's only a few years older than us."

"It's weird, Stiles," Scott stressed. "They're not together, obviously. _Why_ do they hang out?"

"They're friends," Stiles insisted. "His family. They all burned to death in a fire like ten years ago. I remember the cops pulling him out of class to tell him. Embry and him just clicked when he came back into town. I'm glad. She needed that type of friend."

Scott turned to him. "What do you mean?"

"A hostile house isn't a happy house, Scott."

Scott ignored his friend's words and thought about other matters. "I wonder _wha_ t he's doing back." Scott eyed the inhaler in his hand, closing his fist over it. "She doesn't need him."

"You can't control who she hangs out with," Stiles said, frowning at his friend. "But you can control when you hang out with her. Stop being an idiot."

Derek and I stayed beside the tree, quiet until we could not hear my brother's voice any more. I breathed in and out and tried to calm my racing heart.

Derek took my hand in his and gave it a squeeze.

"I don't like your brother."

"He has a good heart," I said. "Believe me."


	4. Liar

I walked along the road opposite to the forest. The rain pelted against the hood of my jacket and the wind roared in my face. I spent hours in the forest, just running.

Exhaustion meant I did not think much of anything, other than food and water. I wanted it that way.

Derek offered me a ride home but I was not tired enough, so I decided to walk it.

Obviously I regretted that now and I refused to call him up and refused to transform. I did enough of that for one evening.

The road was dead. I hated the silence that came with being alone. The rain hurling down didn't help. In the end, I became accustomed to it, too used to it to properly hear the wind howling and the rain's bluster against the tarmac.

Further along the road, I could hear faint little puffs of air and little padding of feet.

Squeezing my eyes shut only to open them a second later, I could see what made those cute noises. A kitten. A jet black kitten, limping across the road.

I had to laugh when I saw the creature. It was soaked and tiny. _Too cute_.

I quickened my pace around the corner, only to see a light flashing before my eyes and a long honking of a horn.

My body back just on time to avoid a collision. Soon after tires screeched against the road, the car came to an abrupt stop.

"Oh man," I mumbled, eyeing the car and the door that flung open. I went in search for the cat. "Where are you kitty? Come here, you little thug. Come on."

A figure jumped out of the car, they quickly set up an umbrella and looked in my direction.

I raised a hand to signal that I was kind of busy and scrambled to catch the kitten, thankfully that was not road kill.

I breathed out a sigh of relief when the mewling mess was positioned in my arm and went to face the music.

Before I even reached the person, they began to ramble.

"I didn't see you! I took my eyes off of the road for like two seconds to switch some songs on my ipod and you! You came out of nowh- _Embry_?" Allison gaped at me then looked to my arms. "Is that a kitten?"

I grinned, holding the kitten close to my chest. "Hi."

"Hi? Embry. What..." she trailed off. She levelled her umbrella so I stood beneath it too. "Get in the car."

Following Allison to her car under the now drizzling rain, I opened the front seat door and sat it, wincing at the sound the water made combined with the leather.

Allison opened the back seat and grabbed something before she joined me in the front seat.

She reached over to wrap the kitten in a towel, but the cat hissed at her. She flinched back and managed to avoid being scraped.

"Awe, no Claudia, hush." I grabbed the towel Allison offered and whispered soothing words to the kitten. The kitten's heart beat raced. "Hush, little girl."

" _Claw_ dia?" Allison repeated with a small grin. "And you said you weren't cute."

I glanced up from the freshly wrapped kitten and gave her a scathing glare. Allison raised her hands in defence and started the car.

We drove quietly for five minutes or so, only the sound of Clawdia purring filled the silence.

"You okay?" I asked, as Allison's fingers tightened around the steering wheel to the point they turned white.

"Hmm."

"She's just scared. Poor little thing, she was out in the rain and all alone."

"That makes two of us." Allison glanced at us both with a frown. "What were you doing walking this late at night? I nearly killed you. Oh my God. I nearly killed you. Are you all right? I didn't clip you or anything, did I?"

I snapped my head up. "Oh no, don't worry. I'm fine." I scratched the kitten's chin playfully. "It's this little princess I'm worried about."

"If you're sure," Allison said uncertainly, biting her lip.

I faced her with a reassuring smile. "I'm sure."

"Your neck!" Allison felt the need to pull the car over so she could bring my face impossibly close to inspect the wound on my neck. "How did I manage to do that! That's it, I'm bringing you to the hospital. I'm so sorry. I really didn't mean to do this to you-"

"Allison!" I panicked when the girl's face turned purple.

"I'm the worst person ever—"

The girl kept rambling, not even finishing her sentences. Not once did she take a second to breath.

"Breathe," I ordered, sharply. "I'm totally fine. This was from something else. I'm accident prone. _Really, really_ , inclined to near death experiences."

Allison's hand still kept a grip on the front of my coat. She did finally breathe but her heart still raced a million miles per hour.

Her breathing picked up as she continued to inspect the wound. She raised her finger and ghosted it along the outer side of the wound, making me shiver.

Allison leaned back and started up the car again. "My house is close by," she said, abruptly changing topic. "I don't care what you say, but you're coming in and so is Clawdia."

"My mom's a nurse, you know," I muttered. Allison only hummed her acknowledgement. "I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself."

"I'm sure you are. Clawdia on the other hand, needs a little help getting warmed up," Allison said, sparing a glance toward the kitten.

"My brother works at the vets."

"Embry," Allison said, making me look up from the purring kitten. "Shut up."

Allison parked the car in her driveway and rushed the pair of us into the house. She told me to go up to her room while she filled her parents in on the whys and hows of me being there.

I walked cautiously around upstairs until I found Allison's room.

There were a few boxes still left to unpack but I didn't mind a little clutter.

As I connected eyes with the kitten, something happened. All sound escaped me, all except for the kitten's nervous panting. Then its harsh gasps began to ease as some sort of primal communication occurred between us.

For the briefest moment, my eyes took on a strangely violet tint. In response, the kitten sprawled its body submissively on the bed, yielding to the obviously dominant animal.

I smiled, always enjoying the connection I had with felines.

All the while, with Allison watched from the doorway with an expression I couldn't decipher. I gathered the kitten into my arms and hugged her. I gently laid the animal down on the bed covered by the towel.

Allison stayed back, watching me inspect the cat while stroking it, doing an expert job of calming it.

"Is Clawdia okay?" Allison asked, making her presence known. Although I already knew she was there, I just didn't know what to say.

"Yeah, she's just fine." I smiled at the cat. "Aren't you?"

Allison stole a glance at my clothing but I barely noticed, too terrified to glance at the beautiful girl for more than a few seconds.

When I finally did look up, I saw Allison rummaging through drawers.

I took the clothes offered to me with a smile. When Allison stepped into the hall to give me privacy, I couldn't help but notice my reflection in a wall mirror. As I pulled the wet shirt off, I caught sight of my eyes. _Much too bright._

Looking away, I noticed the kitten staring up at me. "What?" I whispered. "Not cute enough for you?"

Allison knocked before she came back into the room.

"So it looks like she's going to live. And I'm pretty sure she'll even let you pet her if you want." I grinned when Allison scrunched up her nose.

"I don't think so."

"Come on. If anyone's cute, it's Clawdia." I grinned at her. "I promise to try to keep her pesky claws away from you."

Allison approached the bed slowly. She tentatively reached out to stroke the kitten behind its ears. Calm now, the kitten even purred a little and leaned its head into her hand.

"You're right," Allison finally said, smiling down at the cat. "Cute as a button."

Allison looked up from the kitten and stared at me. Noticing the stare, I asked, "What?"

"Sorry. I was just thinking." At my expectant stare she grew hesitant. "Your neck," she said slowly, almost cautiously. "You were with Derek, weren't you?"

"Oh." I blinked. "Oh! No, _no_. Yes, I was with Derek and no, Derek's not like that."

Allison wore a tight smile. "I'm glad."

Not liking how tense the silence grew, I decided to joke lighten the mood. "So, Family Night on Friday. How exciting." At Allison's groan I continued. "Poor Danny. Poor very gay Danny."

Allison covered her face, clearly embarrassed. " _Oh no_."

"Oh yes. Purely platonic reasons for asking you to join him. Think of his feelings right now. With that being said, you're going to the party. Danny can drive us."

Allison threw me a curious look. "Family Night was a total lie," she admitted placing her hands over her eyes then mumbled, "I'm such a liar."

"So, liar, is that a yes? You'll go?"

"Definitely _no_." Allison smiled at my sudden pout. "That was also a lie."

* * *

The next day I made my way up the bleachers, pushing through the crowds of students. Lydia waved me over, patting the seat next to her.

She dismissed the person she spoke to and ignored the disappointed frown the girl wore and gave me her full attention.

Her grin was all sorts of manic. I sat down cautiously, waiting for whatever weirdness was about to come my way.

I clasped my hands together and simply waited. "Okay, what is it?"

"I am so proud of you, Em." Lydia ruffled my hair. "It's like seeing a child take their first steps."

"The first elimination is just starting." I gestured toward the field, furrowing my eyebrows. "Unless you can predict the future, how can you be proud of me already?"

Lydia rolled her eyes. "No, not that. I got a text from Allison. Look at this." She skimmed through a few texts on her phone and stopped at one. "This picture. You, Allison and 'Clawdia', on a bed, in a bedroom that is most certainly not yours. You work fast. Even if I _am_ shipping you and her over her and Scott, I did not expect this."

" _Work fast_?" I scowled at the assumption. "We're friends, if even that. Did she not tell you what else happened?"

"Well you're progressing further and faster than predicted," she cooed. "You adopted a kitten together! You're getting a head start on making a family!"

"What? No. Lydia, stop."

"Love is in the air, doo, doo, do, doo, do, do," Lydia sang. "Just kidding. She told me about how you left Derek's house late with a bruise and she nearly killed you with her car. Oh and how you saved a kitten's life as well."

"Lydia..."

"It's okay, Em." Lydia stared out onto the field. "After the game the boys are going for a little run in the forest. If they happen to find a nearly beaten to death Derek, well that would be just pure coincidence that they happened to be there. Nothing to worry about."

Stunned into silence, I just stared at my completely calm best friend. I was not sure if she was serious or not.

Lydia nodded her head behind me. I followed her line of vision and found that Allison walked up the bleachers in our direction with a noticeable smile.

She sat on my left side. "Hey, Lydia," she said, with a little wave. "Embry, are you not playing?"

"I am, just in the next round." I answered and turned to Lydia. "If you're serious. Call it off. You have it completely wrong."

Amid the players rushing the field, a very late Stiles found Scott in the crowd and hurried toward him.

"Scott, wait up!" Stiles shouted, pushing a guy out of the way and promptly ducked to avoid a shove to the shoulder. "You gotta' hear this!"

"I'm playing the first elimination, Stiles." Scott answered, not looking at his friend. "Can't it wait?"

Stiles grabbed his friend by the forearm. "Just hold on. I overheard my dad on the phone. The fibre analysis report came back from LA and they found animal hairs on the body from the woods."

"Stiles, I have to go." He removed his hand from his arm.

"You're not going to believe what the animal was—" But, with Scott's helmet on, he disappeared in the crowd of other players rushing the field, leaving Stiles to say the next words to himself. "—It was a wolf."

A hand placed itself on my thigh. "Are you okay?"

I looked from the hand, to my thigh and back to the hand. "I'm fine. I just need to speak with Stiles." I got up and started walking away. Before I was completely out of sight I turned to Lydia and gave her a warning glare. Lydia nodded in return. Catching Allison's frown I offered a, "Catch you in a bit!"

"All right, you know how this goes," Coach said. "If you don't make the cut, you're most likely warming the bench the rest of the season. But make first string and you play, your parents are proud, your girlfriend loves you, everything else is cream cheese. Now show me what you got."

The whistle blew and the game started. The pace was fast and brutal. When the ball was passed to Scott, Jackson came right after him. Lacrosse sticks smacked down on his gloves.

Scott tumbled forward and slammed to the ground, kicking up dirt around him.

The whistle stopped the play. Jackson stood over Scott, glowering down at him as he picked the ball up with a gloved hand.

Teeth clenched behind his mask, Scott pushed himself up off the ground. Coach gave the whistle a sharp blow, starting the next play.

Scott and Jackson found themselves staring across from each other at the draw, crouched down with their sticks waiting for the assistant coach to drop the ball.

At the whistle, Scott moved with shocking speed, grabbing the ball right out from under Jackson.

I joined Stiles at the stands, we slowly moved to the side-lines to watch. "This is not good."

Stiles gave me an odd look but said, "I know."

Scott charged the length of the field. The defence lashed out with their sticks, but he parried expertly.

Jackson caught up and made a furious stab at stealing the ball. Then with defence converging on him, Scott twisted his lacrosse stick around. He kept the ball safely in the pocket while he literally flipped forward, leaping right over the heads of the defensive players.

His feet landed on the turn, he whirled around, tossing the ball in an over the shoulder shot past the goalie and right into the net.

The crowd in the bleachers roared. Everyone was on their feet. Everyone except Stiles and I.

"Stiles," I grabbed his hand before he left. "You need to convince Scott not to go to the party tonight. Also he better not to join the lacrosse team, he needs to quit. But, one thing at a time. He needs to _stay the hell away_ from the party."

"You know!" Stiles pointed at me accusingly. "How do you know?"

"Scott couldn't jump over socks. Now he can flip over bodies?"

Stiles seemed to accept that answer. "Okay." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay. That still doesn't explain how you _know_. But, he's coming over to my place after this, you should come too. Just—" He looked guilty. "Don't let him see you."

I nodded my head. "I know how an ambush works, Stiles," I tried to joke about it, but it fell flat.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, don't worry. Out of sight, out of mind and all that good stuff."


	5. 5 Bloodlust

"Yeah Lydia, I'll be over in like an hour," I said, steering the bike with one hand while the other held my phone. "Yeah, I'm getting changed there. Catch you later."

I had a plan. A decent plan that included Stiles and I providing evidence to prove what Scott was. I was prepared for questions Stiles might throw at me. Well, as prepared as I could be.

I pedalled down the road on my bike, a small smile on my face. I was relieved, finally I could just tell Scott that I knew what he was. I could help him. Maybe he would start talking to me again, properly, like he used to. Maybe it could be the start of repairing our relationship.

My smile slowly faded when something caught my attention. My shoulders stiffened, shifting the bag on my back as I eased to a stop on the rain-slick road.

My feet touched the ground, keeping the bike at a standstill. Turning my head up, I took a quick whiff of air.

A familiar scent, like wet tree bark, but not too familiar.

My head whipped around, only finding dark woods surrounding me on all sides. The road was completely empty, strangely quiet. I snapped my head to the direction of the sound of movement that caught my ear. I whipped out my phone and shot a text to Derek.

 **Alpha's out to play, entrance road.**

I turned to the woods and peered in. Nothing. I did not have time to deal with the mutt, not that night.

It was a full moon and that meant its strength and speed was at its peak. I would be stupid to pick a fight now, even if _I_ was the one being stalked.

A shadow moved so fast I wondered if I had seen it at all. It moved forward within the woods. I started to pedal on the bike again and kept pace with the movement. When I picked up speed, the strange loping silhouette moved just as quickly.

I pedalled harder and harder, pushing the bike to its limits. The steel chain threatened to come off. The shadow slowed down, letting me get ahead. Instinctively, I slowed down too. I knew it came before I felt it barrel into my body, knocking me clean off of the bike.

I landed on the ground with a thud and a gasp of air escaped my lips. The Alpha's red eyes considered my soul, it looked like it knew me.

I was trapped beneath the larger body, still in my human form and I really hated myself for riding on that awful bike instead of running.

Even if my heart hummed abnormally fast, I could only think of Scott the night he was bitten. I could only think of Laura's scowling face. I said calmly and pronounced clearly, "I. Will. Kill. You."

My declaration seemed to take the wolf by surprise, I took the opportunity to kick its body off of mine. It moved fast, crossing the road just a few yards away.

Looking down at my white converse, I groaned and quickly kicked them off, not wanting them ruined. I jumped into the air and landed back down on four feet.

I left the bike behind and chased after the wolf that ran down the road. A truck veered out in front of me, forcing my body to roll to the left to avoid being hit.

The wolf disappeared. I transformed back, naked in the middle of the road. A breathless me gave another glance back to the woods on both sides.

I heaved a sigh and got out the phone from the bag.

 **Never mind, false alarm.**

I went back for the bike and the bag that I had a spare change of clothes in and went to Stiles' house.

I pulled up on the driveway and discarded the bike beside the footpath and made my way to the front door. Before I knocked, it swung open with a wide eyed Stiles behind it.

"Hey, right on time" he said, opening the door and went for the stairs.

I rolled my eyes at his rushing. "Hey, Stiles."

"Okay, so I've done some research but you know the internet. Everything contradicts itself," he muttered. "I need answers from someone who actually has experience with uh werewolves. Which by the way, awesome!"

He went into his bedroom and motioned for me to sit down on the portion of the bed that was not covered in pages. "You think I do?"

"Yes," he answered easily.

"How might I ask, Stiles, did you come to that conclusion?"

"How else would you know about Scott? You had specific instructions, instructions that I plan to carry out," he said, easily. "Don't say you know because you live with him. You and I both know that means nothing."

"I never said anything about werewolves, Stiles. You didn't either, until just a moment ago."

He sighed. "Okay let's skip the part where we argue. This is what I've got."

He clicked furiously over a keyboard. His eyes locked onto the computer screen, he bounced from one web page to the next. Words and images popped up on the screen, flashing across his face.

"Wolfsbane, Silver Bullets, Lycaon, Aconite," I mumbled, following along. I studied the drawings on werewolves in different forms, one mostly human and another massive fur-covered creature and another appearing as a normal wolf.

"And pictures," he added.

Through the window, I saw the sun setting and the full moon beginning to rise.

The room darkened, an increasingly panicked Stiles watched a sheet of paper come out of the printer. I picked it up before he could and studied the detailed wood carving of a medieval hunter, that stood over the body of a werewolf, it aimed a crossbow at the creature.

Someone knocked on the door.

Stiles leaped out of his chair. He rushed to the door, unlocking it to find Scott standing out in the hall.

"Get in." Stiles yanked him into the room. "You have to see this. I've been reading. Websites, books." He spread his arms out. "All this information."

Scott took off his jacket watching his friend in amusement before he stilled. "Embry." He looked between Stiles and I. "What are you doing here?" He turned to Stiles, frowning. "What is she doing here, Stiles?"

"Relax, she's helping us out." Stiles picked up pages and pages of paper and dumped it into Scott's hands.

"You might want to sit down, Scott," I said calmly, motioning toward the computer chair. When he did not move, I sighed. "Look, I know that you're uncomfortable around me or whatever, put that to the side because this is important. Too important to not listen to."

"Is this about the body?" Scott asked, not noticing my flinch. "Did they find who did it?"

Stiles frowned at me, _he_ had noticed. "No, they're still questioning people." He looked to me and his frown deepened. "Even Derek Hale."

"It wasn't him," I said, rolling my eyes. "Move on, get to the point."

"Okay. We'll come back to that," Stiles said.

Scott stared at him. "We will?"

"Yes," Stiles confirmed. "Remember the joke the other day, Scott? Not a joke any more. The wolf. The bite in the woods. I started doing all this reading and- Do you even know why a wolf howls?"

Scott pinched his nose. "Why would I know that?"

"It's a signal," I answered, making Scott look in my direction. "When a wolf is alone, it howls to signal its location to the rest of the pack."

"A pack of wolves," Scott scoffed out.

"No," Stiles said, deadly serious. " _Werewolves_."

At Scott's disbelieving look I knew the plan was not going as well as I hoped.

I kind of thought the fact that he had been bitten by a wolf and he somehow became stronger and his senses were heightened that he'd just accept what he was and would be eager to learn all about it.

Obviously I was wrong.

"You're seriously wasting my time with this?" Scott rolled his eyes. "You know, I was about to ask Allison to the party. Instead I came here so we can what? Discuss whatever crap you're obsessed with now?"

I clasped my hands together. "Allison's going to the party with me, so no worries there." I had to fight my lips from smirking. "I'm heading out in a bit."

"She's going with you," Scott said monotonously. "Why would she go with you?"

"We're friends." I looked to Stiles, hoping he'd change the subject. "I haven't seen you speak to her at all so, I don't get why you're acting..."

Moody. Oh right. _Full moon._

"Forget about that. We discussed that already, Scott. You can't choose her friends for her. Also, I saw you on the field, Scott," Stiles said, face serious. "What you did wasn't just amazing. It was impossible."

"So I made a good shot." Scott shrugged. "So what?"

"No, you made an incredible shot. The way you moved, the speed, your reflexes, people can't suddenly do that overnight." Stiles sighed. "And then there's the hearing, the senses, and don't think I haven't noticed you don't need your inhaler any more. You haven't used it since that night."

I stood up, noticing Scott's body turning away. "You can't leave. Just sit down, absorb the information and think clearly. I can help you. I know people who can help you," I pleaded, hoping he could see my honesty. "You just have to let me, let them."

"I can't think about this now," Scott said, not looking in my direction. He stared at Stiles. "We'll talk tomorrow, okay?"

"Tomorrow? Don't you get it? The full moon is tonight." I took a few steps toward him. "This is not the night to surround yourself with people. Don't you care? People could get hurt. _Allison_ could get hurt."

"What are you trying to do?" Scott faced me, his eyes accusing.

I pursed my lips. "Protecting you."

"I just made starting line-up. I might have a date with a girl. Everything in my life is somehow perfect. Why are you trying to ruin it?"

"Everything's perfect," I repeated, staring at him blankly. "Wow..."

"We're trying to help you, Scott," Stiles said. "With the full moon it's going to be too hard to resist and there's no going back. You're cursed, Scott. And it's not only that the moon causes you to change, it's also when your blood-lust will be at its peak."

"Blood-lust?"

"Your urge to kill," I replied, not looking at him.

"I'm already starting to have an urge to kill," Scott glared at me.

I glared back. "Well, so am I."

"You need to hear this. The change can be caused by anger or anything that raises your pulse." Stiles moved his hands frantically. "And I've never seen anyone raise your pulse like Allison does. You can't go. Just let her go with Embry."

Scott's pulled a phone out of his pocket.

"What are you doing?" Stiles asked. "Give me that."

"I'm just finding her number-"

"Give it to me," Stiles demanded.

I looked over in time to see Scott's eyes flash yellow for a brief second.

His voice low and guttural, "No!" He yanked the phone out of Stiles' hand and shoved him against the wall.

"Scott!" I jumped in front of Stiles, before Scott struck him, Scott instead lashed out at me, making me fly across the room, tossed like I weighed nothing.

Of course if I _really_ wanted to, I could have stayed in the same position blocking Stiles. But considering if I fought back, he would've react even worse than he already had.

I really needed to keep him as calm as possible.

Then, shaking with anger, I gazed up. "Breathe," I instructed, following my own order. "This is why you can't go out tonight." I stood up and walked slowly to him. "Let me help you. Please Scott."

"I didn't mean to do that." He started to move to help Stiles up, but his friend flinched back.

I glared at him Scott. Why couldn't he just listen? "Just, stay still, Scott."

"I'm sorry. Really, I didn't mean it. I have to go. I have to get ready for the party. I'm sorry." Grabbing his jacket, Scott hurried out.

I let him walk out. I turned to Stiles who shook on the ground. I helped him up and sat him down in the computer chair.

"What are we going to do now?" Stiles looked up at me.

"I have a backup plan. It might involve a little kidnapping." At Stiles' excited grin, I smiled back. "Just a little."

Danny picked me up from Stiles' house a few minutes later. He was excited to hear that Allison 'managed' to get out of her family night and headed to her place to pick her up as well.

He drummed his fingers against the wheel as they waited outside her house.

Allison opened her front door and stepped outside. She flattened down her dress and looked up. I grew shy at the smile directed my way. I waved and looked down to my lap.

"You're smitten," Danny whispered.

"You're just as bad as Lydia."

"Is Lydia ever wrong?" At my surprised look, he shrugged. "Who cares if Scott likes her. He doesn't dictate her feelings or yours."

My phone started to ring just as Allison opened the car door.

"Hey Allison," I greeted and then quickly answered the call. "Hello?"

"I'm outside your house, Scott's still there," Derek informed me. "Do you want me to just grab him or do you actually have a plan?"

"No don't just grab him," I said quickly, putting those thoughts out of his head.

"Then what do you want me to do?"

Then rolling my eyes, I continued, "I do have a plan believe it or not. He's in denial at the moment and his emotions are all over the place. He's not going to listen, but he might just react to certain situations."

Derek stayed silent for a moment. "I'm listening."

"Well I can't say over the phone, but just follow him. I'll let you know in a bit. It's not as crazy as you're thinking. Stiles even agreed so it's kind of legal when you have uh, someone's permission." At the weird looks I got from both Allison and Danny, I smiled. "Catch you in a bit, Derek."

I hung up the phone and pretended like nothing was out of the ordinary.

Danny was kind of use to my antics and weird behaviour but Allison still looked at me like I was crazy.

"It sounds like you're stalking someone," Allison said conversationally, her voice casual. "Or kidnapping someone."

"Does it?" I asked, innocently.

Alison nodded slowly. "Yes."

"Well yeah, I guess it did sound like that. Derek is keeping tabs on Clawdia for me. She has just moved in with us. I swear her mood swings are all over the place. One second she's cuddly the next the claws are out."

As quickly as Allison's smile came, it dropped. Then she looked out the window. "Derek's looking after her?"

"Is that why he's not coming tonight?" Danny asked, pouting in the front seat.

"No, that's not why."

He looked at me through the mirror. "Would Scott not mind the cat for you? Oh yeah, how did he react to that by the way?"

I bit my lip. "No. Clawdia joined the fam after Derek heard about the party. He doesn't want to hang around with hormonal teenagers. He'd rather her company over mine any day."

"And Scott?"

I fiddled with my finger. "He had his own plans."

"That's sweet of him, Derek, I mean," Danny commented. "I wish I had someone to take care of Tim."

"Yeah it is sweet," Allison said, facing me. Her usually warm eyes were now like ice, making me shiver, even inside my warm hoodie. "So he's just at your house? Waiting for you to get home? It sounds like he's making up for something." She looked pointedly at my neck, covered by yet another scarf.

I didn't know to react to Allison's accusation.

"He's hanging with mom," I lied. "She doesn't really like cats, she only allowed Clawdia in if I took care of her. Derek's just doing me a favour."

"Hmm."

Danny parked the car. "And we're here! If you're not catching a ride back with me, shoot me a text."


	6. 6 Concern

"Thanks Danny," Allison said, unbuckling her seatbelt. She flashed him a quick smile. "I'll just get your phone number from Embry later on."

Danny smiled back. "You're going to have a blast. Lydia's parties are always the best."

I exhaled. By the way Allison spoke to me and how drastically her mood changed, I feared Allison would ditch me as soon as the party began, it certainly looked that way.

Although, maybe Allison _was_ better off not speaking to me or Scott for that matter. We were targets now. Our lives became dangerous, too dangerous to be around.

The alpha killed Derek's sister for power, maybe they had other motives. Who knew what else he or she would do?

The unanswered question happened to be the biggest threat. _Who knew?_

But then, Allison gave me one of those smiles that made my heart pick up in pace. It was one of those smiles that you just had to answer with your own, whether you realised you returned it or not.

Allison not speaking to me, did not seem to be the case, for which I felt grateful, it also made me feel frustrated.

Being alone did not automatically mean loneliness. I was surrounded by people that cared for me, but did not entirely _know_ me. That was true loneliness.

That's what made it all the harder, I had to let them go and reap in my loneliness while they remained oblivious.

"Are you okay?" Allison broke my train of thought. Allison looked my body up and down, her eyes in the near moon light looked darker than their usual hazel. "You looked like you were thinking hard about something."

I tried to smile. I shook off my lingering thoughts. "I'm fine."

Allison reached over and gave my hand a squeeze. "Okay. Not that I believe you, but okay. I won't push," she said, before she opened her car door.

We were early, just like Lydia expected us to be. I was not surprised when Lydia flung open the front door of her house, stepping out in an admittedly, beautiful red dress. What surprised me, was how quickly Lydia stormed toward us in heels. She reached us before I had even gotten out of the car.

I shrunk back at the glare that I was at the end of. I looked to both Allison and Danny for an explanation.

Danny looked as confused as I did, but Allison did not. In fact, it looked like she expected it.

"We're here early!" I said before Lydia could speak, wondering why Lydia looked like she was about to murder me.

"You are," Lydia muttered.

I wore a proud smile and poked my watch. "I said an hour and look, I'm even here fifteen minutes early."

"Embry, that is so not the point." Lydia pursed her lips. Apparently she could not even say why she was angry. She gestured toward the house and took Allison's handbag. "Let's just go inside."

So we went inside the house. I watched amused by Allison's wide eyes, taking in every detail of the beautiful, maybe over the top house.

Lydia noticed but did not say anything, too used to people judging her based off of her clothes, living situation and even her body.

Lydia dropped Allison's handbag on the white couch. She told Danny and Allison to make themselves comfortable and then she brought me upstairs and into her bedroom.

I plopped myself down on Lydia's bed and looked up at the ceiling as Lydia brought out several dresses to choose from and placed them on the end of the bed.

"I can't believe you," Lydia muttered, picking up a dress and inspecting it. Throwing it back onto the bed, she glared. "Honestly, Embry, what were you thinking?"

I glanced at her. "I _just_ got here. I don't know how I could have done something to make you angry _already_."

"Have you not looked in the mirror at all?" Lydia took in deep breaths and made her way to my side.

"Er, no," I admitted.

"You didn't even look bad after your game. You _actually_ showed up on Allison's doorway, dressed in sweats and some ratty old hoodie?" she asked. "And _look_ , your hair is an absolute mess, Embry."

"I can't look _that_ bad," I dragged out.

"You think so?" Lydia pulled me up from the bed and moved my body to stand in front of the mirror. "See for yourself, then say that again."

Lydia was right. I looked awful. My usual curls were tangled and twisted into knots, I had dark circles beneath my eyes and the large hoodie was not successful in covering my neck entirely.

What I had failed to notice was my sweats, which Lydia had her eye on.

"Okay," I breathed out, taking a step away from the mirror. "I look bad. Really bad. But that's why I'm here, right? Fix me up. Do your thing."

"Fix you up," she repeated after me.

I blew out some air. "Yeah, that."

Lydia's eyes hardened. Her eyes stayed on my leg, making me shift nervously. "You're limping. Your leg, it's bleeding and you look like you haven't slept in days."

"I am?" I walked whilst looking down at my leg. Then caught sight of the red seeping through the grey bottoms. I did not feel any pain, which was why I did not notice the alpha had nipped me, again. "I mean, damn. I didn't think that thorn got me."

Lydia said nothing and turned to the bed. She picked up a black dress and held it against my body.

With a nod she placed it on the back of the chair beside the desk and sat me down on the same chair by grabbing both of my shoulders and urging me downwards.

"Lift your hips," she ordered, her eyes did not stray from the grey sweats. When I complied, she dragged them off and threw them in the bin. "I'm just getting a clean cloth and water, back in a sec. _Do not move_."

Lydia left the room, leaving me to sit alone in my underwear.

With a sigh, I looked to my thigh. It had been a few hours since the encounter with the alpha. I was so used to healing quickly that I did not think much of the wounds.

They were completely thrown out of my brain.

What freaked me out was Lydia's reaction, or lack of reaction. The girl did not frown or indicate any emotion. She had no expression on her face when she pointed out my limp and bleeding limbs.

She held the same expression when she pulled off my sweats from my body.

Downstairs, the front door opened and closed repeatedly. People arrived and cheers broke out each time someone claimed to have brought booze.

Then the music started, which made me stand up to look out of Lydia's bedroom window, to look down to the dimly lit backyard. People were already there, drunk and high.

"You! Whatever your name is, don't go in there!" Lydia's sharp voice could be heard outside of her room. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I-er, hi," he stumbled out. "I'm here to—"

"—Move out of the way."

"Sure, sure," the guy agreed. "Is Em—"

Lydia opened the door and slammed it shut behind her, cutting off the guy.

She crossed the room with a cloth and a bowl of water. She dipped the cloth into the water and squeezed it out above it before she dabbed it against my wound. She then dried it with a towel lightly, then repeated the process until the blood had been washed away.

"Who was that?" I asked, even though I already knew who. Stiles' voice was kind of goofy sounding.

"No one important." Lydia then stood up and motioned for me to do so as well. "We're going to enjoy ourselves tonight."

"Okay."

"You're going to put on this dress, maybe a bandage too, and then you're going to go find Allison."

"Okay."

Lydia turned around and gave me privacy. Her shoulders sagged and she breathed out an 'okay'. Any other person wouldn't have been able hear the defeated whisper, but I did.

My heart shattered at the thought that my best friend hurt. It only reinforced my earlier thoughts. _Better alone._

I changed into the dress, then allowed Lydia to bandage my thigh and wrap a scarf around my neck. Lydia fixed my makeup and somehow managed to tame my hair, before we went to join the party downstairs.

* * *

Once downstairs, my phone alerted me that I got a message.

 **At the party. So is Scott. Stiles explained the plan. Hopefully no one will die tonight.**

I shot back: **Finger's crossed.**

For once, Derek decided to text me, for that I was grateful. I shoved my phone into the handbag and tried to ignore the waves of negative energy that came from Lydia, who held onto my free hand tightly.

Lydia's jaw locked. "There's Allison..."

Near the blazing fire pit, Scott filled up two cups at the crowded keg, he jumped at the sound of a dog barking.

The next door neighbour's dog, Sammy, from what I could see, barked at the lingering Derek, hauled up into the tree that overlooked Lydia's back garden.

Derek only had to shoot the dog a look before he shut up.

A wide eyed Scott walked over to Allison and handed her a cup. His eyes shifted back to the neighbour's yard nervously.

"I need to go," I said, catching Derek's eye.

Lydia's grip on my hand tightened. "No, you don't. Scott's not going to ruin this night. Don't allow him that power."

"Lydia," I whined.

"No. You need to have fun. At the moment, that's not with her. Maybe that's for the best." Lydia gave me a rare soft smile. "Come on, we'll dance together."

Lydia took my other hand and pulled me into the crowd of dancing teenagers.

As we began to move, I slowly smiled back at Lydia, who placed her hands around my waist as others pushed our bodies closer and closer together. Lydia chuckled as our cheeks brushed together.

"I do love to play matchmaker," Lydia admitted. "It's fun."

I voiced my confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Lydia did not reply, just chuckled again. She danced against me, pressing our bodies closer together.

In the next couple of minutes, I managed to face toward the tree so I could look at Derek as he patiently waited for the go ahead. Although, this also meant I could see Allison and Scott as clear as day.

 _They danced together._

I tried hard to concentrate on Derek, even Lydia, but it proved impossible. Scott's hammering heart stole my attention and his fingers that pressed into Allison's back.

Scott and I locked eyes just as his upper lip pulled up momentarily to reveal a sharpened incisor.

He lost the beat of the music and sweat began to form on his temples.

"Now?" Derek guessed. At my stiff nod, he jumped from the tree.

Scott's breathing tightened. "Sorry." He swallowed. "I have to... I have to use the bathroom."

"Are you okay?" Allison asked, taking a step back from him, giving him space.

Allison did not get an answer. He rushed past her and into the house.

Lydia noticed I had stopped dancing and dragged me away from the crowd, pushing people roughly to the side until we made it out. We could just stand freely without others bumping into us every single second.

"Is your leg hurting?" Lydia asked, looking guilty. "Do you want to go and sit down? I'll get you some water."

I thumbed behind me. "Yeah, it's a bit sore." I took the excuse handed out. "I think I'm just going to call it a night. I'm not really in the mood for... this."

"Wait, hold on." Lydia looked from left to right, then sighed, apparently not finding what she searched for. "Do you have a ride home? You can just stay in my room. There's a lock on the door, so you don't have to worry about creeps."

"No, no," I declined, giving my friend a smile. "It's okay. Enjoy your night, okay? Jackson looks a bit lonely."

I waved at Jackson who boredly waved back. He sat surrounded by people in the pool. He did not speak to anyone, it was more like people spoke at him than anything else.

Lydia looked to him too and frowned. I took the chance to take my leave.

I pushed my way through people in the house. I made it out of the front door.

I relished the cool air for a couple of seconds, the peace was disrupted quickly.

"There you are," Stiles shouted from a couple of yards away.

I sighed and agreed, "Here I am."

He ran to me and breathed heavily. "Scott freaked out and left the party, just like you said he would. We are going after him now, right?"

" _We_ ," I said, poking him in the chest to emphasise my point, "are not doing anything. _You_ are going to apologise to Allison and make up some excuse for Scott."

"Uh."

"Derek and I can handle Scott. If he comes back here, try to keep him away from Allison until we get here. He's dangerous, tonight." I paused and studied the unchanging determined face. "Also Allison will probably be hanging out with Lydia..."

"Okay," he was quick to agree. He nodded his head. "Okay. I accept."

"What?"

"I accept the mission." With that, he turned on his feet and walked back into the house.

I made my way to Derek's black Camaro. He stood outside of it. He leaned against it with his arms crossed. When I approached, he said nothing, but opened the door for me.

Just as my first foot entered the car, a person called out my name, halting my movements.

"So much for having that handled," Derek grumbled. He left my door open and got into the driver's seat.

"I said _Stiles_ had it handled."

Derek scoffed and I could not blame him. I rolled my eyes at my own stupidity.

Lydia's eyes blazed as she jogged to the car. Her hand gripped Allison's arm, she practically dragged the poor girl along. Once at the car, Lydia's lips curled up into a sneer.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Lydia whisper yelled, glancing in Derek's general direction.

I did not look at either of them as I answered, "I'm getting a ride home. Look, Derek has stuff to do after so..."

I got into the car, not looking at them as I closed the door behind me.

A low growl came from Derek as my door flung open a second later.

Lydia's hands pushed my body so I sat in the middle chair. Allison hopped into the other side. Their bodies squished against my shoulders from both sides.

"Then we're coming with you," Allison said, placing a determined hand on my thigh.

"And we're not going to Embry's house," Lydia continued after Allison. "I know your mom isn't home, Em. We're having a sleep over at Allison's house." Lydia kept her eyes train on Derek who looked unaffected by their demands. "You got that Derek?"

Derek muttered something but Lydia did not care to listen to the answer.

It was safe to say, it was the most awkward car ride, _ever_.

 _Especially_ when I sang along to the radio, " _It's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark_."

Derek turned the radio off and the rest of the car ride was spent in total silence, with the exception of the sound of our breathing.

Derek parked the car outside of Allison's house. The girls got out of the car, Lydia ensured to keep a grip on my hand, pulling me out of the car by force. We walked toward the front door but I pulled back out of Lydia's reach.

I rose my hands to escape Lydia's attempt to snatch them. "Just give me a minute, Lyd."

"Thirty seconds," Lydia responded dryly. "One. Two. Three."

I motioned for Derek to roll down his window, which he did. Glancing over my shoulder, Lydia and Allison stood there, watching my every move. I groaned silently. "I just need to speak to him."

"Ten. Eleven. Tw-"

"It's probably better this way," Derek said after the girls took two steps back. He awkwardly placed his hand on my arm. "He won't be as _angry_ with you there. I'll let you know how it goes."

I sighed and backed away from the car. "Hourly texts."

"Hourly texts," he agreed and abruptly drove off, before I could make more demands.

I turned back around. I gulped, then walked toward the two awaiting girls. I sung under my breath, " _Under the moonlight you see a sight that almost stops your heart_."


	7. 7 Protective

I got out of the shower the next morning and wrapped a towel around my body. I woke up before the other girls and I didn't want to go through Allison's clothes without her permission so I walked back into the room with damp hair, as they slept.

My phone began to ring. I staggered around the darkness of the room until I pressed the answer button that flashed an obnoxious green.

"Hey, Derek," I whispered, sitting on the computer chair. "Good morning."

"Why are you whispering?"

I glanced at two sleeping people in the bed. "I'm at a sleepover, remember? Forget that. I'm the one supposed to be asking questions. Tell me what happened. You only gave me the cliff notes last night."

Derek sighed. "We ran into hunters. Scott's fine."

"I know," I said, impatiently. "You told me that."

"We can talk later, in person," he said. "I only called to check up on you."

"Okay—"

"Bye."

I stared at the phone in disbelief. He hung up on me. I was left with the dead tone that dragged on, mocking me.

The hunters prowled the forest last night and managed to corner both Derek and my brother.

Scott was shot but Derek got him out of there before he could get caught. That was the gist of what Derek told me through a mass of messy messages.

In other circumstances, I would have panicked, however the commotion needed to happen to drill a message into Scott's skull; on the seriousness of the situation and the importance of keeping those around him safe.

I hoped the experience made him trust that Derek wanted to help him. Maybe _want_ was the wrong word. He did plan to do it, regardless.

One of the girls shifted in the bed, bringing me out of my thoughts. A mess of black hair slowly lifted from the pillow and the heart shaped face peered in my direction. I flicked on the lamp beside me and grinned as Allison flinched back in shock.

Resting a hand over her eyes she mumbled, "Too bright."

I smiled sympathetically. "Did you drink last night?"

"No," she murmured, sleepily. "It's too _early_ for light."

I glanced at the clock and shuffled around until I stood on Lydia's side of the bed. She was out cold, lips parted slightly as she breathed evenly.

Alison watched my every move. I hid a frown as her heart rate picked up. I didn't want to freak her out, so I avoided making eye contact with her.

I leaned over Lydia and blew right into her face.

"Ugh what—" Lydia mumbled, scrunching up her nose.

"Wakey wakey, Lyd," I encouraged, blowing on her face again.

She reached up blindly and slapped me on the cheek.

Allison's eyes widened and I burst out into laughter at her shocked face. It wasn't a light laugh, it was one that made my whole body shake and it was then that I realised that ever so slightly, my towel inched downward.

"You're such a bitch," Lydia accused, whipping the blanket off her body and subsequently Allison's too.

Fixing the towel, I said, "We're going to be late if you guys don't get up and get ready."

"What time is it?" Lydia moodily asked.

"Half seven," I reluctantly admitted.

That was when all hell broke loose. I don't think I've seen anyone move that fast before. Even if they were like zombies with eyelids heavy and hair wild—they moved with surprising precision.

We all were ready in a speedy ten minutes. My hair was still damp, leaving the blonde tendrils darker than usual. I left it up in a ponytail, too lazy and out of time to do anything else with it.

Allison's mom shouted out a quick hello as her daughter ushered us out into her car.

The seats were a smooth, jet black leather and the engine started with a small sound that left Stile' truck left looking like an ancient beast.

"You know, your brother left me stranded at the party," Allison said, a few minutes into the ride.

"Scott's like that," Lydia answered for me, "he abandons people."

Allison cleared her throat awkwardly. "Is that, right?"

I shifted my gaze so I looked out the window. I let the silence grow. There was a mixture of emotions boiling in the pit of my stomach. I didn't know which one to acknowledge, let grow to deal with.

Jealously was at the forefront because even though Allison left the party with me, her thoughts lingered on my brother. In fact, I was sure Lydia forced her into the car.

There were no indicators that Allison would like me like that and maybe that was how I would deal with it. Accept reality and move on.

When we got to the school I noted that Scott sat on a bench beside the entrance, perched so he was ready to move at a moment's notice.

I inclined my head toward him. "There's Scott."

Allison glanced over. "Oh."

"You should talk to him," I said, holding back a long sigh. "Come on Lydia, let's go."

Lydia didn't hesitate to grab my hand and directed us away from the car.

We bypassed Scott, he didn't give me any sort of acknowledgement. His eyes were solely on his crush.

We made it to our lockers rather quickly as Lydia strode through the hallways like she owned the place. People parted like the red sea as she moved forward. Their bodies reacted instantly, it wasn't a conscious decision.

"You okay?" she asked, quietly. "Em?"

"Sure."

She rubbed a hand up and down my arm. "Embry."

"Hmm," I hummed. "Everyone was too busy telling me that I liked her that I don't even know if I _do_."

Lydia went behind my back and started plaiting my hair. "I think," she said slowly, "it's one of those things that you just know."

My shoulders sagged because her fingers relaxed me. "Maybe."

"I'd like to meet up with Derek."

She turned my body so I faced her. She wore a serious expression. I muttered a confused, "What?"

"Every time you meet with Derek, you get hurt," she snapped, a fury built within her eyes. "So, I would like to talk to him."

I nearly laughed. "I already told you—"

"It wasn't him," she interrupted, "blah blah blah. Heard it all before, Em."

"You didn't listen then," I said, calmly. "Derek is one of my best friends."

"—That doesn't mean anything to me. I'm meeting with him, today."

"Er—no."

"I wasn't asking for your permission, Em," she said, sternly. Her face softened and she brought me in for an abrupt hug. "Maybe it's not him. I wouldn't be your best friend if I didn't make sure. I _have_ to make sure."

Her tone may have been soothing but there was no doubt an icy edge to her words.

Lydia's hug was firm, yet warm. _Protective_. The smell of strawberries was comforting and familiar, it was a scent that lingered in my room from the amount of time she spent there.

I don't know how long it lasted, but neither of us made to let go until the bell rang.

At lunch time Stiles dragged me away from Lydia, despite her spiteful words and dragged me into an empty classroom.

He paced back and forth behind the teacher's desk. I waited for him to spill his guts, perched in the first row of chairs.

"Your plan worked," he admitted, eventually.

"Of course, it did."

He ran a hand over his face and rambled, "He said something about hunters and being shot and Derek pulling an arrow out of his abdomen. I mean—there's no scar or anything. It's crazy, right? Dangerous."

I nodded. "Yes. Very crazy."

"Do you want to know what we talked about coming into school this morning?"

"I'm sure you're going to tell me anyway."

"Allison," he deadpanned, stopping abruptly in front of my desk. "He was worried about apologising and explaining to Allison!"

I chewed on the inside of my cheek. "Sounds like him."

"Dude!" he howled, breaking into laughter. "He was shot! People were trying to murder him and all he can think of some girl. I don't get your brother, Embry. I don't get Scott at all, sometimes."

"Does anyone?" I asked, tiredly.

Stiles quietened at that.

He slumped into the chair next to me and groaned into his lanky arms. We stayed there for a while, throwing light hearted jabs at the absent Scott.

In all my worrying about Scott I didn't think of how Stiles dealt with it. I figured he was excited, considering how he reacted to the body in the woods. Yet there he sat, a defeated head merged with his arms on the desk.

That was one thing about Stiles that I liked, he was loyal and no matter how ridiculous Scott acted or what supernatural entities entered his life, he stuck by Scott's side.

It was only the beginning but I was sure he could stick it out.

"So, you know about werewolves because of Derek?"

I glanced at him and answered honestly, "Yes."

He perked up. "Do you frequently get shot at?"

"Am I a werewolf?" I laughed.

"I want to say no," Stiles said, grinning sheepishly.

"I'm not," I confirmed.

The bell rang, kicking us into gear. I waltzed out of the classroom, Stiles by my side—asking questions about Derek's fur and what colour it was and why did he have blue eyes?

He didn't stop to let me answer any of them. He just wanted to let me know what thoughts ran rampant in his head.

We had lacrosse practice so we went outside. By this time, my French plait was blonde. The outside breeze was soothing, banishing the warmth of my cheeks in favour of a cool brushing of wind.

Scott walked around, looking dazed. He stopped dead and stared after an empty road in front of the school.

Stiles nudged me. "What's up with him?"

"Drooling over his thoughts of Allison, probably."

Scott swung his school bag in front of us and heaved out panicked breaths.

"You okay, Scott?" Stiles asked, patting his arm.

"No."

Stiles shot me a glance. "You apologize to Allison?"

"Yeah."

"So," Stiles dragged out. "She's giving you a second chance?"

"Yeah."

I cleared my throat. "Reality of the wolf thing finally crash down on you?"

He nodded, numbly. "Yes," he said, looking me dead in the eye. "The hunters, I guess you know about them too, right?"

I licked my lips, not liking the sound of his voice. It was dead. "I do."

"Her dad," he trailed off. "He's one of them."

"Her dad," Stiles repeated.

"Is a hunter." Scott's breathing picked up.

I plucked out my phone and checked for any messages from Derek. He never mentioned anything about her family being a part of the hunting community. Nothing at all. He let me stay at their house—without so much as a warning.

Stiles shifted awkwardly back and forth on his feet.

"Uh—" He scratched the back of his neck. "Allison's father?"

"Shot me," Scott's voice went high. "With a crossbow."

"Dear God," I muttered.

"Allison's-"

"Yes!" Scott shouted. "Her father!" He kicked the bag on the ground and panted. "Allison's dad. Jeez, what the hell? What am I going to do? Embry? Did you know? Dammit!"

I blinked at his outburst. "No—"

"Did he _see_ you?" Stiles panicked too.

"He didn't," I answered quickly, knowing Derek would have told me. At their distrusting faces I sighed. "Trust me. You would probably be dead by now, if he recognised you."

Scott placed two hands on my shoulder. "I don't know you at all, do I?"

"Scott…"

"You're gay," he said, not listening to me. "I never knew that, never thought to question it. Now I find out you had a whole other life? A whole bunch of secrets?"

Stiles chewed on his lip. "Scott—"

"I don't know you," Scott repeated, clearly troubled.

"You do, Scott." I felt a burn behind my eyelids. "You know me, like I know you. You know me, just maybe not everything that's happened to me."

Scott shrugged my arm off and snatched his bag off the ground. He gave me an indecipherable look before he stalked off, grounding his teeth together.

Stiles thumbed in Scott's direction. "I should—"

"Go," I said, swallowing. "Go after him."

So, he did.

I skipped practice, naturally. I didn't care what coach said. Actually—what he might have thought didn't cross my mind at all.

I stood in the parking lot, mind whirling with all the new information. Before I knew it, Derek was parked in front of the school and leaned against the hood of his car, watching me with a blank facial expression.

When it clicked that he was in fact there and not a figment of my imagination—I slowly started to walk toward him.

Then someone snatched my hand and interlocked my fingers so it made it near impossible to go further.

"Embry," Lydia said in warning.

I cleared my throat. "Lydia."

My voice came out raspy which of course, Lydia noticed straight away. She brought her hands over my cheeks and stared me dead in the eye. Her finger trailed below my eyelids, studying with a frown.

"What happened?"

"Nothing," I said, like a reflex. When she didn't move an inch, I relented. "I spoke to Scott, he's just _so_ angry."

She heaved a sigh. "I'm going to kill him."

"It's not his fault."

"It is though," she said, clenching her jaw. "He doesn't know what torture he's putting you through. Silence is a choice and that decision is killing you."

"Lydia…"

"There's Derek." She glared across the parking lot. Derek crossed his arms. "He's here to pick you up?"

I nodded. "He is and don't start with all that."

"I'm coming with you," she decided, locking our arms together. "You're stuck with me. I don't care if you start hating me. I _will_ stalk you."

I let out a laugh at her declaration.

Lydia was the most stubborn person I've ever met. She stuck by me through everything. A wave of guilt hit me harder than expected as I sat in the back seat of the car.

There she sat, glaring daggers into the back of Derek's head, whilst holding my hand to let me know that she was there.

It wasn't fair that she had false assumptions and that the fact that I lied to her. She was my best friend and she didn't deserve that.

"Hello Lydia," Derek said, plainly. "Nice to see you again."

"Same can't be said for you," she replied, smiling whilst baring her teeth.

I snorted and met Derek's gaze through the mirror. I licked my lips in contemplation. I was planning to tell Lydia the truth. These lies weighed too heavily on me.

After Scott's reaction—something hollow bedded itself deep within my throat and I wanted it clear.

"Lydia," I said, quietly. "You want to know what's going on? The cuts, bruises, limping. Everything?"

She nodded, with furrowed eyebrows. "You know I do."

"Embry—" Derek said, demanding attention. "Go on."

I smiled at him. "Lydia, there's something I need to tell you. I need you not to freak out."

"Why would I freak out?"

"I need you to promise."

Lydia cautiously glanced between us both and squeezed my hand. "Okay. I promise. Tell me."


	8. 8 Warning

Lydia didn't believe me.

Correction, she didn't listen or see anything to believe.

I couldn't blame her. Derek and I were both acting strange. My instructions to lead us toward an isolated area didn't help my case, no doubt.

The revelation was not revealed.

You see, Derek pulled the car over by the woods, as per requested by me all because I wanted to show Lydia the transformation rather than tell her.

It didn't go to plan because she hopped out of the car and ran with her heels down the road, away from us.

Her anger at being 'lied' to or 'pranked' gave her enough strength to power walk the way into town.

That was how I came to the decision to let her cool down for the night and try another time.

The next day, no one questioned why I skipped the last of my classes. That wasn't what I was worried about. It was _who_ stood barking insults at players that concerned me.

Players slammed into each other during practice, the practice that I was late for.

The coach grimaced when I made my way onto the field and motioned for me to come over.

"McCall," he started, "You better have one hell of an excuse or you can kiss your co captaincy goodbye."

"Cramps," I blurted out—horrified at my own words.

He wore a disgusted expression. "Go and don't look at me until I tell you to."

"Understood," I muttered. " _So_ understood."

Danny pointed to the spot in front of him and behind Greenberg. I skipped to near the front of the line and no one complained. I put that down to it being too early in the morning to process thoughts.

"Where did you run off to, yesterday?" he asked, winking at me.

"Home," I deadpanned.

He wiggled his eyebrows. "I didn't see Allison at school either."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well." He leaned forward smirking. "Did you do that _do_?"

I out right laughed in his face when he thrust his body forward and pushed him behind the player after him.

The fists of the player I pushed him behind were clenched so hard that it violently wavered. That's when I looked up to see the face of my brother.

Coach swung around and tossed the ball to Greenberg. Jackson smashed his stick against the kid's glove a second later—sending the ball flying out of the pocket.

"Greenberg," Coach shook his head. "Lap. Now."

"But sir,"

"You might be amateur but your ability to trip onto your own ass reaches professionalism level," he said, sneering.

"Oh. Thank you, sir."

"Do a freaking lap, Greenberg."

Another player charged right after he took off into a run. Jackson slammed him down on the ground with a sickening thud.

Jackson grinned at me, beckoning me over with his glove. "Going to make me work hard for it?"

"Maybe," I said, smiling coyly.

"Come on then," he said, inviting me to charge. "Give it your best shot."

Coach tossed the ball and I went for the shot, quickly flicking my hand to avoid collision with Jackson's stick. The move was blurred in comparison to Jackson's strike.

Smirking a little at Jackson's impressed nod, I glanced over to the Coach because he hadn't said a word.

"No, McCall, don't look at me," he snapped, on the verge of a fit. "Good play. I hardly saw it."

I stepped to the side, letting the next player go head to head with Jackson. Scott stood at the front of the line, dazed.

With a swift nudge to the back from Danny, he shook his head and waited for the coach to throw the ball.

Jackson volley slap checked as Scott went for the shot, knocking the ball out of Scott's grasp.

He let out a hiss in paid, cradling his arm where Jackson's stick slammed between the glove and elbow pad.

"I think," Jackson murmured with a cocky grin, "that there's only room for _one_ McCall on this team."

"Boy McCall," Coach called, releasing a depressed sigh. "Wake up! This isn't a dream field that you can mosey on through. Cows indigested their food faster than you. Can you move faster than a cow's digestion system?"

"Yes, Coach."

"Then, do it again!"

I shared a glance with Stiles as Scott ground his teeth together.

He made eye contact with me, brown rapidly turned to yellow.

The whistle blew and Scott shot forward as the Coach tossed the ball to him.

I inclined my head to the side, prompting Stiles to move out of the line to join me by my side.

We both noted the change in Scott and I was furious, not only with Scott—but with myself.

His speed, the extraordinary agility with the way he moved was uncontrollable. No one noticed the normally awkward teenager became a _superhero_.

Jackson went for the cross check. They collided like two goats locking horns and due to Scott's ferocious speed, the impact made Jackson let out a pained groan as he hit the ground.

The sickening sound of the bone dislodging from the socket sent a cringe down my spine.

I wanted to be a part of those who swarmed around the groaning Jackson but the foaming Scott garnered my attention.

I stalked toward Scott and gripped the collar of his shirt and started dragging him toward the locker room.

Stiles jogged by outside. "Scott?" he asked, "are you okay?"

"Ugh."

I pushed Scott's helmet down, to cover his transformed face from curious eyes.

"No, he's not," I snapped, gritting my teeth. At Stiles' pitiful expression, I sighed. "He will be. He's fine."

"It's happening," Scott hissed, groaning.

"Embry, maybe you should step back," Stiles warned, gripping Scott's other side.

"No, I'm fine right here," I said, urging them to go faster. Scott's body began to tremble. Stiles shot me a confused look but I ignored it. "He's going to be fine. Don't worry. Totally normal."

"I can't control it. _It's_ happening."

Before making it into the locker room, I quickly unclasped Stiles' hand and flung Scott into the room.

"Stay here, Stiles," I ordered, blocking the entrance of the room.

He blinked at me. "Embry, what are you doing? Move! You're not staying in there _alone_."

"Get back," Scott whispered.

Stiles peeked over my shoulder. "I'm just trying to help—"

" _Get away from me!"_

Stiles jumped at Scott's frighteningly demonic rasp. I shook my head at the dramatics of it all and shoved Stiles back, so he stumbled over his own feet.

Scott doubled over in pain. I shot over to him and tore off his lacrosse gloves because they cost a fair sum of money, revealing sharpened claws.

"I know, it's sore," I said, trying my best to soothe him. "I know."

Scott let out a growl.

"I know, I know," I repeated.

Stiles knocked against a fire extinguisher against the wall and that was the only reason why I knew he was back inside the room.

My entire concentration was based on Scott, leaving everything else non-existent.

This clang of metal caused Scott to whip head around.

That was when Stiles got to see his best friend for who he was _now_. Beneath the helmet was rage filled yellow eyes that looked positively murderous.

He hurtled toward Stiles, rounding the corner of the lockers, jumping onto the wood bench and went to jump again.

I managed to knock myself out my stupor and flung my body into the air and knocked him against the locker.

His teeth snapped in my face.

"Scott," I warned, sharply, gripping his mop of hair and slammed his head against the locker. " _Calm_ yourself."

"E-Embry?" Stiles' panicked voice was too close.

I cleared my throat and blinked, entrancing Scott entirely. I muttered, "Stop."

His body went slack and he slumped down against the lockers, body entirely still.

"What the hell?" Stiles whispered, high pitched. "You're not normal, are you?"

I grimaced. "Stiles..."

"Was that mind compulsion?" the excited voice asked.

"Dude, no," I said, twisting my head to face him, to which his eyes widened comically wide.

"Your eyes," he said, not blinking. "Violet? Does everything supernatural have neon coloured eyes?"

Scott groaned and Stiles didn't hesitate to pull the trigger of the extinguisher, blasting C02 from the nozzle. Scott covered his face but, it was too late, plumes of white surrounded him.

I shot him a glare. "Seriously? Eyes make you star struck but a flinch makes you flounder?"

"Embry," he stressed, frowning. "He had claws, sharp freaking talons. Of course, I'm going to freak."

"Stiles?" Scott shook his head, eyes back to their normal brown. He glanced up at me, with furrowed eyebrows. "Embry? What...What happened?"

I sighed and slumped down to the ground beside him. "You wolfed out."

"Huh?"

Stiles dropped the extinguisher to the ground and smiled sheepishly. "You tried to kill me."

I took the helmet off Scott, revealing a normal face with face drenched with sweat.

"Uh," Scott said, dumbly. "What?"

"You hurt Jackson," I carried on, voice purposely light, hiding the rage with shaking hands. "Hunted Stiles with the intent of murder."

He swallowed hard. "I didn't mean too..."

I tossed him a solid glare. "No more lacrosse."

"But,"

"I swear, Scott, if I see you out in that field again, I will hunt _you_ down."

"She will," Stiles confirmed, happily to back me up. He kneeled in front of his best friend. "Buddy, your sister is your master or the all-powerful teacher. It's the total cliché."

Scott studied my face, silently.

I rolled my eyes.

"Anger," I said, simply. "Your pulse rises and triggers your wolf form."

"That's lacrosse," Scott said, shaking his head.

"It _is_ violent," Stiles agreed.

I scoffed. "So, let's add a killing spree to that. How violet does that sound?"

"I'm finally first line, Embry."

"Are you telling me, the risk of killing someone to play some high school game is worth the blood?"

He looked down, shame faced. "No."

Stiles drove us home in the truck. The silence was strange, considering he was one to yap and rant no matter the situation.

I looked at the mirror, the face that looked back at me was dull. Green eyes were soulless and tired. There was no break from my stressful life and there was still an important discussion to be had with Derek.

Stiles left, throwing out a goodbye as we ventured toward the house.

Scott's gaze burned into the side of my face, but I ignored it. I was tired of being the first one to instigate conversation. If he wished to speak to me, he would have to come to me.

I charged up the stairs and flopped onto the bed, face down. The sheets were smooth.

"I promised I wouldn't freak out," a smooth voice said, startling me.

I peeked up at the red head. "How did you get in?"

"The spare key," she said, dismissively. "I said I wouldn't freak out and I did. You didn't get the chance to say anything."

"You did say you would become a stalker," I conceded, rolling onto my back so I could stare up at the ceiling.

"Hmm," she hummed. "So, here I am."

"Here you are."

She slid onto the bed and stared up to the same crack in the ceiling.

The only thing I could hear was her calm breathing. When I paid more attention, mom and Scott were awkwardly avoiding a conversation in relation to drug usage.

I waited a few more moments until mom popped her head inside the door. "Embry, I've got a late shift," she said, then noticed Lydia. "You can stay over, if you want. Feed my children for me?"

"Sure thing," Lydia agreed, grinning.

"Oh, yeah, I'll be going to yours and Scott's first game," mom mentioned, smiling proudly. "I can't wait. My babies, all grown up."

I rolled my eyes. "You mean, Scott caught up."

She laughed and left the room. Just as she was about to leave the front door she whispered, "My babies."

I plucked my phone from my pocket and scrolled to see messages from Derek—all requesting for me to call him.

Lydia rose an eyebrow, leaning in to see the contents of my phone, but did not offer up any of her usual contempt for the guy.

"Give me a sec?" I asked, dialling the number right after I spoke.

Lydia hummed and relaxed back onto the pillow and closed her eyes. Her face was serene and if I didn't know any better, it looked like she was in a peaceful slumber.

The phone rang for a good while before Derek picked up.

"You decided to call me back," he said in greeting.

"Tell me about the Argents," I requested.

"There's nothing much to say other than they hunt, Embry," he said, in a bored tone.

I scoffed. "I don't believe you."

"Why not?"

"You let me crash in their house, Derek."

"True," he conceded. "Scott was out of control today."

I sighed. "I know. I told him he can't play any more but he won't listen to me. We both know that. I need you to get that message across. Mom's out of the house."

"Now?" he asked, not sounding at all surprised.

"Yes, now," I confirmed. "He's in his bedroom, speaking to Stiles on the computer. Make it scary."

He let out a cruel laugh. "Oh, I _will_."

Lydia craned her head to the side. "Why the hell did you sound so diabolical?"

"Maybe because I am?" At her blank face, I smiled. "Joking. Would a diabolical person ask how Jackson's doing?"

"He's fine," she answered, staring at me intently. "Are you going to explain now or what?"

I closed my eyes. "Today was a really draining day."

"Another time then."

"Another time," I agreed.


End file.
